Thursday, June 12, 2008

Go, Grasshopper, Go

While I was in California, eating and talking and eating some more, John was at home, taking care of the animals and mowing. It takes him 8 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday to mow the parts of the property that he wants kept cut. Well, after 4+ years of using a mower that was meant for residential use (ie, much smaller than the 5 acres he usually cuts), his mower broke - broke big time - really, really broke!!! So once I got home, he bought a new, commercial mower. A Grasshopper!


Now he can mow the same amount of grass in under 4 hours - TOTAL! He is one happy boy - can you see the smile? Go, Grasshopper, Go!


On another note, I recently participated in a quilted postcard exchange. If any of you have never seen or received or made a quilted postcard, you have missed a lot of fun. I mailed mine off on Monday and have already received some responses to them. These are the ones I made for my swap partners. I've only received one so far, but it's only the day after the mailing deadline so I'm sure the rest will be coming in shortly.

Quilted postcards can be anything - pieced, appliqued, crazy pieced, embroidered. Anything! I did quite a few different ones. Even used my embroidery machine to make several special ones. It's a great way to use those test blocks and stitchouts from the embroidery machine. The top two and the butterfly and the sandcasle were test stitchouts. The embroidered flower was made special. I had some 4 patches and added another strip to the side and then used a fancy stitch from my sewing machine (an anchor border stitch) along that strip. I practiced my free-hand quiting on the fish and the larger fish one at the top right. You can't see the very bottom one but it's simply a pieced pineapple block with strips along each side. Use fusible web or double sided Peltex for the middle and plain muslin for the back. Fuse together and zigzag around the edges. Put the address and any message you want on the other side, keeping in mind to put a line down the center to separate the address side from the message side - just like a real postcard. If you use peltex for the center, your card will need to use a 42¢ stamp. Voila! I'll try to post the ones that I receive once they are all in.
Until next time!

3 comments:

WhiteStone said...

Very nice postcards! I've made only one...a couple years ago...and really, really want to make some more!!!

cinnamongirl93 said...

The QPC swap waa a lot of fun. In my opinion your post card was the best!
I'm glad for your hubby with the new mower. It sure saves lots of time. Now the question is , what will he do with all of the extra time?

Anonymous said...

The Grasshopper Company specializes in developing, design and manufacturing of riding rotary mowers. The most popular product of the Grasshopper Mower Company is True Zero Turn riding rotary mower. From this great site www.pissedconsumer.com I learned that the customers are not completely satisfied with the company’s return policy and some other issues.